Dawn of War II may not be entirely faithful to its predecessor, but Relic's …

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Though it may share some similarities with its Warhammer 40,000-inspired predecessor, Dawn of War II is a completely different game that offers one of the most action packed and highly replayable RTS experiences in recent memory. Relic has uprooted some of the genre's mainstays in a move that has proven to be as controversial amongst fans of the original as it is innovative. But the company's decision to stray from the norm has resulted in a unique and refreshing game that will not only keep RTS fans busy until StarCraft 2, but may even have them forgetting all about Blizzard's upcoming titan.

Much has changed in this second iteration of the franchise, but the core source material is the same. As with the original, Dawn of War II focuses on the unending battle between the factions of the beloved Warhammer 40,000 universe. The ever-vigilant Space Marines are in the midst of a war with the Orks and the Eldar, as the invading Tyranid, a feared locust race of immense power with a taste for galactic domination, enters the fray. The Tyranid are hell-bent on destroying the galaxy, and the locust forces clash with them in the on-going war. As a Space Marine leader, you are charged with the task of restoring the galaxy to order for the Alliance, as the various races vie for control and survival.

Title

Dawn of War II

Developer

Relic Entertainment

Publisher

THQ

Price

$49.95

Platform

PC

With plentiful cut-scenes and a solid narrative, the campaign plays out in a manner similar to the system used for Dawn of War: Soulstorm. Players move through the non-linear campaign as they wish, choosing battles at their leisure, which consume days and move the overall story of the war forward. Battles can be taken and won or lost in many different ways, and the order and outcome of the battles ultimately influences the way the story plays out and how the game ends.

Moreover, everything you do in the campaign is tallied up for an overall campaign score, which further bolsters the game's replayability. Players must make various play decisions that affect the final score, such as deciding whether they want to take longer with the missions but complete all the extra objectives for a completion bonus, or rush through them for a time bonus. This non-linear system results in a highly-replayable campaign which, like Soulstorm before it, will greatly please fans of offline RTS play.�But that's not the only part of the game that fosters replayability.�

The player can also slowly upgrade his individual units with persistent rewards through the course of the game. Much like an RPG, enemies occasionally drop loot that's used to soup up your different units. Each unit has a number of different equipment slots that can be filled with different items, ranging from heavy-duty armor to new weapons, and even special accessories like grenades and turrets. Many of these drops are rare, meaning that two players will not necessarily find the same drops in a given play-through.

Further borrowing from the RPG genre, Dawn of War II throws a persistent experience point system into the mix as well. Leveling up individual units rewards skill points which can be used to fine-tune them in a number of different capacities. Dumping enough skill points into a given trait causes the unit to learn another special ability. For example, pumping points into melee weapons for the Assault Jumpers, a unit which specializes in melee attacks and uses jump-jets to get into the fray quickly, eventually unlocks the ability for that unit to suppress enemies, in addition to knocking them back when they jump into battle.

Together, these two additions make Dawn of War II a much more intimate RTS experience. The persistence from mission to mission makes the whole game more cohesive and unique for each player.�

The great strength of Dawn of War II is its ability to make individualized units seem important. Each squad that you procure is important to the overall battle. Rarely will you send units off to die as a distraction or what-have-you; rather, you'll be taking care of your units so that they level up and grow toward becoming destructive monsters, tailor-made to suit your play-style.

The focus on maintaining a squad and having your units work together over the course of the long battle is a welcome change. In a sense, every squad you create is a "hero" unit—a powerful unit that evolves over battle and has a number of extra abilities. Rather than moving toward a Warcraft 3 model, Relic has instead just made everyday, ordinary units powerful, impressive, and worth saving.

This unit-focused design agenda extends to the way the actual combat has been crafted, as well. Base-building and resource-gathering have both been removed completely, leaving the player to focus solely on moving and managing units. Though the campaign missions feature the same, familiar, objective-style levels you'd find in any RTS, such as defending a point or infiltrating an enemy stronghold, the action plays out without the mundane, macro-level play of most RTS games—the focus is exclusively on the action at the unit-versus-unit level. The result is an invigorating and wholly refreshing approach to RTS gameplay.